Results 481-500 of 554 for speaker:Paul Lawless
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Dog Control and Sheep-Worrying: Discussion (2 Jul 2025)
Paul Lawless: My point is that there is an issue around illegal hare coursing in the country. It has a knock-on effect where groups of people are coming onto farmers' lands and letting their dogs off. This is a huge issue in south and north Mayo and I want to register it here in the committee. We need to do a significant amount of work on this and if we cannot talk about some of the key issues on it-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Dog Control and Sheep-Worrying: Discussion (2 Jul 2025)
Paul Lawless: The focus of the committee is on sheep and the perpetrators, which are dogs.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Dog Control and Sheep-Worrying: Discussion (2 Jul 2025)
Paul Lawless: It is very relevant. I want to move on because my time is going. I want to work with the farm organisations on this. There are major issues around the legislation from 1986. It is very weak, as was alluded to. It is resulting in a lack of prosecutions. That is the reality. The other factor is not only do we have very weak and loose legislation that is vague and one of the reasons...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Dog Control and Sheep-Worrying: Discussion (2 Jul 2025)
Paul Lawless: I fully support Deputy Fitzmaurice's suggestion to do a report.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Dog Control and Sheep-Worrying: Discussion (2 Jul 2025)
Paul Lawless: This is really important because if we do not address it, we are going to see great difficulty in the future for greenways and walkways. Farmers will not engage with councils. Greenways have been a massive lifeline for rural Ireland. It is critically important for the tourism sector that we address this issue. I agree with all the points made and the report we have committed to doing....
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (2 Jul 2025)
Paul Lawless: I want to talk about the Agri-Food Regulator. One of the key tasks for it is that there is a significant mark-up on the price of beef in supermarkets. The farmer keeps the animal for over three years, or thereabouts. He receives €7.50 per kilo. Supermarkets at the moment are selling at a price in the region of €23 per kilo. What role does the Agri-Food Regulator have in...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (2 Jul 2025)
Paul Lawless: In its current form, it is a charade. It does not have the ability to quantify or extract that data from the companies in its current form.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (2 Jul 2025)
Paul Lawless: If the companies tell the Agri-Food Regulator that their data are none of its business, the regulator says "Okay".
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (2 Jul 2025)
Paul Lawless: The regulator has two functions. One is around unfair trading practices and the other relates to transparency. It is ironic that those are its core functions but it does not have any teeth to address transparency and the slice of that pie. It is a major oversight. Would Ms Dunne agree?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (2 Jul 2025)
Paul Lawless: The other function is around unfair trading practices. As Senator Brady alluded to earlier, there is a fifth quarter of offal that is sold by meat factories but the farmer receives nothing. How is that not an unfair trading practice?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (2 Jul 2025)
Paul Lawless: The Agri-Food Regulator has two core functions in relation to unfair trading practices and transparency. It cannot achieve either. How is it the case that for a valuable commodity such as offal, the farmer cannot receive anything? The Agri-Food Regulator says, "There is nothing to see here."
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (2 Jul 2025)
Paul Lawless: The other point-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (2 Jul 2025)
Paul Lawless: -----is around the fact that transparency without the power to compel is a major oversight.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (2 Jul 2025)
Paul Lawless: We as a committee need to write to the Minister about these key points.
- European Union Regulations on International and Temporary Protection: Motions (3 Jul 2025)
Paul Lawless: The Government's immigration policy has been an absolute shambles. The Government has disrespected the people of this country. People in the community where I am from ask me every day what is happening to a particular building. I come in here and ask the Minister of State and his party leader but I get no response. I engage with property owners who tell me they are developing a hotel only...
- European Union Regulations on International and Temporary Protection: Motions (3 Jul 2025)
Paul Lawless: It is submitted by Forbairt Orga Teoranta. I do not have time to go into the detail.
- European Union Regulations on International and Temporary Protection: Motions (3 Jul 2025)
Paul Lawless: This is a company that is owned by another company that is owned by another parent company, TNM Developments-----
- European Union Regulations on International and Temporary Protection: Motions (3 Jul 2025)
Paul Lawless: -----which is, in turn, owned by a UK company. The Government is making millionaires of these shell companies that are operating-----
- European Union Regulations on International and Temporary Protection: Motions (3 Jul 2025)
Paul Lawless: -----in other parts of the country. What does the Government do?
- European Union Regulations on International and Temporary Protection: Motions (3 Jul 2025)
Paul Lawless: It signs over the power to the European Union.